HP steals server lead from IBM in Asia

Hewlett-Packard (HP) gained ground on IBM and overtook its rival in the Asia-Pacific blade server market during the first quarter of 2007, reveals a new Gartner report.

According to the research house Monday, HP claimed leadership in the regional blade server market from IBM this quarter, in both shipment and revenue.

HP also maintained its lead in terms of overall server volume, with a 21.8 percent jump in its unit shipment year-on-year, which is faster than the overall growth rate of the market, said the research house. The server maker's market share jumped by five points, and its revenue increased by 18.1 percent, compared to the same period last year.

Gartner attributed HP's strong showing to its Integrity server line which accounted for 22 percent of the company's total revenue in the first quarter this year. The Integrity sever line grew by 73 percent over the same period in 2006.

Overall server shipments in the Asian market posted a 3.1 percent increase over last year's first quarter to reach 298,956 units, while revenue climbed 15.1 percent in the same period to reach US$1.7 billion. In addition, the overall unit shipments for x86 server grew 3.6 percent and revenue climbed 12.7 percent annually.

The report also showed that RISC-Itanium Unix servers continued to show positive revenue growth of 12.7 percent, with the platform experiencing "healthy year-on-year revenue growth in Australia and New Zealand, Greater China and India".

IBM retained its lead as the largest server vendor in the Asia-Pacific market based on revenue. Big Blue's overall revenue grew 17.3 percent for the quarter annually, and with the exception of System i, revenue for System p, System x and System z increased for the quarter, said Gartner.